


Witness

by PerpetuaTheBrave (Teanjel)



Series: Reflections [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Monomon is also mentioned in here, Quirrel is in this one I'm so happy to write about Quirrel, can you tell the abyss creeped me out, especially when this is all one character thinking about things, more contemplation from someone who hasn't finished this game, someday i will learn how to tag, the abyss - Freeform, the knight doesn't know any more than the player, what am i supposed to put in the character section anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 03:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16077851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teanjel/pseuds/PerpetuaTheBrave
Summary: In a quiet moment with Quirrel by the Blue Lake, the knight considers again how far he has come.





	Witness

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I'm naming these after achievements? That works.

Stoic, you called me? 

I suppose I should say something.

What do I say, when I read the dreams of those around me?

 

Thank you, I ought to say. But you fled too quickly for thanks. And you must have known. Seen how frightened I was to realize I was locked in a chamber with an enemy I could not harm. I might have screamed for help if I thought there was anyone at all to hear. But I have always fought for my life alone. You were the first, Quirrel, to join battle by my side.

How did you find your way in? She must have let you. Did you have keys for all these doors? Was that place your home, once?

I’d been worried to recognize your mask on the statue in the Resting Grounds. Silly that I hadn’t noticed the connection when I first saw you stand puzzled before the egg. I was new to this world, or new to its memories, and it was only a mask. I meant to ask you, but you were gone from every place I had seen you. The creatures in the Canyon worried me more. That they all chanted a single name, and nothing else in their dreaming. _MONOMON. monomon._ She was not what I had expected.

 

Should I tell you how hard it was? To see her sleeping and strike her? To know that she invited it? To never speak but only listen to an old dream? 

Do you know how long I hesitated, Quirrel? But you saw only the two of us sleeping. Was it only a few moments to you? I always feel I have slept for years when I wake. I am glad you were there.

Better than waking alone in a dark den, wondering what I had done. If it was right. Was someone meant to be my guide there, as well? Someone lost to the ages of slow decay?

How can they call this empty place eternal? The city sings, but there is no one in the halls. How many have I met who still have their minds? How many wanderers die lost in these tunnels?

You know, I was afraid of this lake, at first. It was too quiet. I expected some hidden danger. But now it seems like the only peaceful place in the world. Should I speak to you here of the dark places I have been?

 

I once wondered if I was alone.  _Are there others?_

Quirrel, there are so many others. A dark sea of siblings. Below this kingdom is a pile of broken masks and a black ocean. It calls me. To sleep. To rest in shadows and surrender hope. And in a moment of indecision, I leapt into a dark bowl of it before I knew what I was doing.

I have that shadow inside me now, more than before. 

Will I ever grow used to it? I have learned to fly faster than I thought possible by a strange crystal light. I have found acid as easy a landing as pure water. But to touch death for an instant, to escape harm by becoming shadow…

No, I will welcome this gift. Seek hope in the dark, as Hornet said.

 

Did you ever see her, I wonder, dancing through Greenpath with her needle? She is like your lady to me, I think. That guide always beyond my reach, hinting at a past I no longer remember. Pointing me to a purpose I do not yet understand. I think I trust her, Quirrel. She was right to test me before sending me to that place. As the Mantis Lords were right to defend a door I was not ready to pass through. Some things are hard to know. If I ever found another ghost – a brother, a sister – I, too would test their resolve before I sent them beyond that door. See that he could fight without rest, for the only rest in that place is final.

Another…

 _Our pure vessel has ascended. Beyond lies only the refuse and regret of its creation. We will enter that place no more._ Do these words refer to me? Am the one who has ascended? In forgetting forgotten? That broken vessel I fought in the caverns above? Or is there another? Am I truly alone?

I did not think myself a wonder. Yet perhaps I am. A wonder to be alive, myself and not a mindless shade. A wonder to be Hornet’s hope, whatever she sees in me.

One more remains. There is a battle in the spire I ran from. 

Enjoy your wonders, Quirrel. I will do my very best to save them.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~New headcanon: the knight is a silent protagonist because he overthinks everything and never decides what to say.~~
> 
>  
> 
> Aaah I found the Abyss and Monomon all in one sitting, it was quite a day! Some of my favorite moments in the game so far. I was going to add some theory ramble to the bottom of this, but I actually just defeated the Watcher Knights and am I ready to break the last seal as I'm posting this. I have no idea where this game is going to go next. Except I'm probably going to have to fight something. And it's going to be sad. With beautiful music.
> 
> Oh, I guess I should add that the knight wondering if there are more vessels (in this and the last one!) is poking at my theory that the Hollow Knight is/was one, which is actually based on the music. That's definitely his theme in the Broken Vessel battle. (Is it even fair for the knight to be able to read that? 'Higher beings, these words are for you alone?' But it does seem like something written in-world...)
> 
> Aaand that I'm a little less optimistic than the knight about Herrah wanting her Seal broken. Her dialogue seems to imply she intended the seals to be permanent ("fair bargain made...for her"), while Monomon arranged for hers to be broken eventually with Quirrel's help. Which has made me curious what Lurien's attitude is/was. 
> 
> Off to find out!


End file.
